The Vitalized School eBook

=Conclusion.=—­To her every event of history,
every fact of mathematics and science, every line
of poetry, every passage of literature is pregnant
with meaning, dynamic, vibrant, dramatic, and prophetic.
Nothing can be dull or prosaic to her electric touch.
All the facts of the books, all the emotions of life,
and all the beauties of nature she weaves into the
fabric of her dreams for her pupils. The goal
of her aspirations is far ahead, and around this goal
she sees clustered those who were her pupils.
In every recitation this goal looms large in her vision.
She can envisage the viewpoint of her pupils, and thus
strives to have them envisage hers. She yearns
to have them join with her in looking down through
the years when the activities of the school will be
functioning in worthy behavior.

QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES

1. Discuss the relative importance of environment
as a factor in the behavior of plants; animals; children;
men.

2. How may an understanding of the mutual reaction
of the child and his environment assist the teacher
in planning for character building in pupils?

3. Make specific suggestions by which children
may influence their environment.

4. Discuss the vitalized teacher’s contribution
to the environment of the child.

5. After reading this chapter give your definition
of “behavior.”

6. Discuss the author’s idea of leadership.

7. Define education in terms of behavior, environment,
and heredity.

8. Account for the difference in behavior of
some of the characters mentioned in the chapter.

9. How may the vitalized teacher be distinguished
from the traditional teacher in her attitude toward
facts?

10. Discuss the doctrine of educational predestination.

CHAPTER XXII

BOND AND FREE

=Spiritual freedom.=—­There is no slavery
more abject than the bondage of ignorance. John
Bunyan was not greatly inconvenienced by being incarcerated
in jail. His spirit could not be imprisoned, but
the imprisonment of his body gave his mind and spirit
freedom and opportunity to do work that, otherwise,
might not have been done. If he had lived a mere
physical life and had had no resources of the mind
upon which to draw, his experience in the jail would
have been most irksome. But, being equipped with
mental and spiritual resources, he could smile disdain
at prison bars, and proceed with his work in spiritual
freedom. Had he been dependent solely, or even
mainly, upon food, sleep, drink, and other contributions
to his physical being for his definition of life,
then his whole life would have been restricted to the
limits of his cell; but the more extensive and expansive
resources of his life rendered the jail virtually
nonexistent.